Music leaf tuenee



(No Model.) 2 Sheet s-Sheet 1.

A. J. COLE.

MUSIC LEAF TURNER.

No. 370,855. x Patented Oct. 4, 1887.

WITNESSES INVBNTOR:

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

A. J. COLE.

MUSIG LEAF TURNER.

110570.855. Patented 001;. 4,1887.

4 WITNESSES: INVENTOR:

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT J. COLE, OF WATERLOO, IOWA.

MUSIC-LEAF TURNER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 370,855, dated October4, 1887.

Application filed February 10, 1887. Serial No. 227,120.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, ALBERT J OHN COLE, of Waterloo, in the county ofBlack Hawk and State of Iowa, have invented a new and ImprovedMusic-Leaf Turner, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

My invention relates to a mechanically-operated device for automaticallyturning leaves of music for the convenience of the performer, butadapted also for turning the leaves of books; and the invention has forits object to provide a simple, eificient, durable, and convenientapparatus of this character.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction andcombinations of parts of the music-leaf turner, all as hereinafter fullydescribed and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar letters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is afront elevation of myimproved music-leaf turner, partlybroken away, and a portion of a piano or organ on which the turner issupported. Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 isan enlarged detail sectional plan view of parts of the leafturnermechanism. Fig. 4 is a sectional front elevation thereof, and Fig. 5is adetail sectional plan view illustrating the action of the repeatingdevice.

The back board or support, A, of the leafturner is shown broken away atboth ends in Fig. 1, but it will have suitable length to support openedsheet or bound music, and will be placed against the ordinary music rackor rest, B, of a piano or other instrument having a key-board, O. Thecntral portion of the back board, A, is recessed, as at a, to give spacefor some of the mechanism of the leafturner presently described, andthis space may be inclosed by front and back plates, a a of metal orother material.

To the top of the board, A, at its center, there is fixed a plate, D,having an upwardlyprojecting stem, E,which is preferably in the form ofa tube and has a slot or recess, 6, at

one side, said stem forming a journal on which the music-leaf-turningarms F and their actuating levers or plates G are fitted for partialrotation. The arms F are flat plates of metal, having hubs bored orstamped out to fit the (No model.)

stem E, and provided at their outer ends with clamps H of suitable formto hold the leaves of music to be turned, and the actuating-plates G arestamped-out pieces of metal provided I the plate G is provided with apendent lip or lug, J, which projects behind the next adjacent arm F andthe plate G, and also a projecting lip or flange, d, on the plate D areprovided with holes K, through which a triprod, L, of the turnermechanism is adapted to pass, as hereinafter explained. One end of thespring I is hooked at i into the slot or recess e of the stem E, and theother hook end,

i, of the spring engages one of the lips gof the plate G in a manner tocause the spring to be put in tension when the arm F and its plate G areswung over on the stem-bearing E toward the right hand, or as indicatedby all but one of the arms in Fig. 1, and in Figs. 3 and 4 of thedrawings. There will be as many sets of these leaf-clamping arms F H,plates G, and springs I as there are sheets of music to be turned. Thedrawings show nine sets of them, all placed on and around the same stemE, and held thereon by a nut, e, and an interposed rubber washer, e",and the arms are preferably made successively longer from the upper tothe lower ones to allow the clamped sheets of music to lie flatter thanthey other wise would.

The trip-rod L, which is adapted to pass through all the sets of arms Fand plates G, as above stated, and as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings,has a bearing at a in the board A, and also below its bent portion Zhasa bearing in an angle-plate, a", fixed to the board or one of itscentral face-plates, and between a collar, Z, fixed to the rod, and saidbearing a, there is placed on the rod a spring, M, which normally tendsto lift the rod. The rod is provided with a series of rack-teeth, N,with which an elastic finger, 0, on the end of a le ver, 0, is adaptedto engage, said lever being pivoted at 0 to the board A, to which andthe lever there is attached a spring, 1?, which tends to lift the leverto a stop pin or stud, p,

on the board to enable the finger 0 to engage anext higher tooth of therack N, the teeth of said rack being about as long as the depthof eachset of the clamp-arms F and plates G. An elastic pawl, R, fixed at oneend to the board A, engages the rack by its hook-head 1 to hold the rodL against the lifting force of the spring M while the finger 0 is beinglifted by the spring P to a higher tooth of the rack.

To the lever'O there is attached at .9 one end of a rod, S, the otherend of which is connected at s to a lever, T, which is fulcrumed at t tothe board A, and at its outer end carries a wire, U, having on it afinger-plate, a, over the key-board O, and in convenient position to bestruck by the player to pull down the lever O and operate the rack-barL.

Alever or rod, V, is pivoted at v to the board A and extends downward toa slot, a in said board, and a bent end, a", of rod V passes through theslot to allow the rod to be thrown to the left hand to cause a lateralbend or projection, o, of it to strike the finger o and pawl'head 1- 'tosimultaneously disengage both from the rack N after a lowering of therod L by successive operations of the lever O, and thereby allow thespring M to force the rackrod upward to initial operative position. Aspring, XV, connected to the rod V and to the board A, normally drawsthe rod over to allow the parts 0 1* to engage the rack-bar.

I provide what I call a repeating device, which consists of a rod, X,which is journaled in the plate D and in suitable hearings on the boardA. The top of this rod X is bent twice to provide a vertically-rangingarm, at, which is adapted to move all the leaf-turning arms F back totheir first position when the rod X is turned to the right hand bytaking hold of its lower laterally-bent handle or lever, Y, which isprovided with a projection, 1 adapted to strike the bent end 22 of therod Vand force said rod to the left for removing the pawls or from therack N to allow the rod L to be forced upward by the spriugM to retainthe arms F in their first positions. The lever Y passes through a slot,1, in the front of the board A.

The operation of the music-leaf turner is as follows: Vhen the trip-rodL is fully down, all the plates G and the arms F and their clamps H maybe swung freely over to either side. The sheets or leaves of music whichare not to be turned will be held to the back board, A, by ordinaryforked clamps, not necessary to show or describe, and when the plates Gare retained by the rod L the sheets of music to be turned will beplaced one at a time in the successive clamps H, commencing with theclamp attached to the shortest arm F, and all the arms and the musicheld by them will then be swung around together to the right hand, or tothe positions all but one of the arms occupy in Fig. 1 of the drawings,ready to be turned over to the left hand, one by one, as the plates Gare liberated from the rod L.

As the playing progresses and a leaf of music is to be turned, theperformer simply touches the button a on the lever U as if it were oneof the keys 0, which causes the lever O or its finger 0 to lower therack-rod L the distance of one of the rackteeth, which will draw the roddown from the uppermost arm-plate G, which unlocks it, so that thespring Z is free to instantly swing the arm around to the left hand, asin Fig. 1, with the leaf held by its clamp H, the pawl R meanwhileholding the trip-rod until the spring 1? draws the lever 0 up to thestop p to cause it to engage the next higher tooth of the rack, and allis ready for turning the next leaf, and when this is to be done thebutton a will be depressed to again draw down the trip-rod to releasethe next leafholding arm and plate, which will be instantly thrownaround by its spring to turn the second leaf, and so on for everysuccessive leaf of music, as will readily be understood.

Should it be desired to repeat the performance of the music, the playerwill simply take hold of the lever Y of the rod X and turn it overtoward the right hand, or to the position shown in Fig.5 of thedrawings, which will carry all the arms F back to the right hand, thusturning all the music-leaves at once to their first positions, and theprojection 3 on the rod-leverY will strike the inclined face of theprojecting end o of the rod V and force it to the left hand, therebypushing the pawls 0 1 from the rack N and allowing the spring M to forcethe rod L up through all the arm-plates G, thus locking them ready to bereleased one by one by the lowering of the rack-bar N, as abovedescribed. The rod X may now be turned to the left by hand, or mayremain to be carried over by the arm G, first thrown to the left by itsspring I in turning the first leaf as the music is repeated.

It is obvious that the music-leaf holder and turner may be used on astand separate from a piano, organ, or other keyed instrument forholding and turning music during either vocal or instrumentalperformances.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a music-leaf turner, the combination, with a base-board, as A, anda bearing-pin, E, fixed thereto, of a series of leaf-turning arms, F,and plates G, fitted loosely on said pin, springs I, placed between thehubs of the parts F G and engaging the pin E and plates G, which platesare provided with holes K, a rod, L, fitted to slide in the board A andadapted to the holes K of the plates G, and provided with a rack, N,having teeth about the length of the depth of the parts F G, a spring,M, normally forcing the rod L upward, a pawl-lever, O, pivoted to theboard A and engaging said rack N, apawl, R, holding the rod while thelever O returns for engaging the next higher rack-tooth, a lever, T,pivoted to the board A, and a rod, S, connected to the levers O T, all

constructed and arranged for operation substantially as shown anddescribed.

2. In a music-leaf turner, the combination, with a back board orsupport, as A, a series of spring-actuated revoluble leaf-turning armsheld thereto, and a sliding rod forming a detent to said arms, of arack, N, on said rod having teeth about the length of the depth of thearms, a spring, M, normally forcing the rod upward, a pawl-lever, O,pivoted to the board A and engaging said rack N, a pawl, R, holding therod while the lever O returns for engaging the next higher rack-tooth, alever, T, pivoted to the board A, and a rod, S, connected to the leversO T, substantially as described, for the purposes set forth.

8. In a music-leaf turner, the combination, with a base-board, A,bearing-pin E, springactuated leafturning arms F G, the parts Gr havinglugs J and holes K, a rack-rod, L N, spring M, lever O, pawl R, rod S,and lever T, constructed and arranged for operation substantially asspecified, ot a rod, U, pendent from lever T and provided with afinger-plate, u, adapted to a position over the key-board of aninstrument when the leaf-turner is placed against the music-rack of theinstrument, substantially as described, for the purposes set forth.

4;. In a music-leaf turner, the combination, with a back board orsupport, a series of independently-revoluble leaf-turning arms, aspring-actuated rack-rod, L N, adapted to re tain said arms, and pawlsengaging the rack to actuate and hold the rod, substantially asspecified, of a bar, V, pivoted to the support A and adapted todisengage the pawls from the rack, substantially as described, for thepurpose set forth.

5. In a music-leaf turner, the combination, with a back board orsupport, as A, a series of independently-revoluble leaf-turning arms,

a spring-actuated rack-rod, L N, adapted to retain said arms, pawlsengaging the raek-rod to actuate and retain it, and a bar, V, pivoted tothe support A and adapted to disengage the pawls from the rack,substantially as specified, of a repeating device comprising a bent rod,X as Yy, journaled on the support A and adapted, when turned, to carryall the leaf-turning arms together to first positions and to move thebar V to liberate the rackrod to allow its projection to retain thearms, substantially as shown and described.

6. In a music-leaf turner, the leaf holding and turning devices,comprising an arm, F, fitted to an axial pin, a plate, G, on said pin,and provided with a lug, J, bearing on the arm F, and with a hole, K, toreceive a retaining and trip rod, and a spring, I, engaging the axialpin and the plate G, substantially as shown and described.

ALBERT J. COLE. \Vitnesses:

H. H. SAUNDERS, H. A. SNYDER.

